Rest, one of Australia’s largest industry superannuation funds, has further strengthened its investment expertise with the appointment of a senior leader for its new internal global equities function.
Richard Mercado has joined Rest as Head of Internal Global Equities and will play a pivotal role in establishing and building a dedicated internal global equities management capability.
Mr Mercado will implement an active, fundamental stock-picking strategy as a part of Rest's broader, ongoing journey to internalise certain investment strategies.
Previously, Mr Mercado was a Partner at Comgest in Paris where he was a high-conviction portfolio manager specialising in global equities.
Prior to that, he was a Senior Portfolio Manager responsible for a North American equities fund at USS Investment Management, the largest pension fund in the UK. He has also held positions with F&C Investments in London, Capital Partners and AMP Capital Investors.
Andrew Lill, Rest’s Chief Investment Officer, said expanding its proven internal investment management capabilities to its global equities portfolio is intended to deliver further value to the fund’s 1.96 million members.
“We are committed to continuing to deliver strong long-term returns and keeping our fees as low as possible. Our Core Strategy investment fees and costs for the 2022/23 financial year were the lowest they’d been in recent years,” Mr Lill said.
“Using our scale and expertise to build further internal capability aims to help us realise further value for our members. This is another demonstration of the continued evolution of Rest’s Whole of Fund approach.
“We've found that internal management can provide additional benefits and insights to complement the work we do with our external managers. This gives us a more holistic view of how companies are contributing to our overall portfolio and our sustainability goals.
“Richard’s proven track record makes him ideally suited to help develop and lead our new internal global equities capability. He adds further depth and knowledge to the expertise we’ve been building within our investments team in recent years. We are delighted to welcome Richard to the team and back to Australia after many years abroad."
Mr Mercado will report to Kiran Singh, Head of Listed Assets, and will be based in Sydney.
About Rest
Established in 1988, Rest is one of Australia’s largest profit-to-member superannuation funds, with more than 1.96 million members and around $75 billion in funds under management as at 30 June 2023.
For further information please visit out media centre or contact:
Michael Mills
Senior Manager, Communications – Media Relations
michael.mills@rest.com.au
m: 0428 499 722
This information has been prepared without taking account of your objectives, financial situation or needs. Before acting on the information or deciding whether to acquire or hold a product, consider its appropriateness and the relevant PDS and TMD which is available at rest.com.au/pds. Issued by Retail Employees Superannuation Pty Limited ABN 39 001 987 739, AFSL 24 0003 (Rest), trustee of Retail Employees Superannuation Trust ABN 62 653 671 394
Rest media releases are point-in-time statements and are current as at the date of publication. Information may not be current and up to date after the date of publication. Please note the date of issue and check Rest’s website for other information on the same or related matters.